A couple walked into my showroom yesterday, and after greeting them, the man described how they were in the process of putting an 18 x 20-foot addition onto their home and that they’d like to be able to use it for a media room. He then goes on to explain that they’ve had several surround systems in the past and that he has always been disappointed with the lackluster performance. They were systems that he cobbled together off-the-shelf at Big Box stores or systems-in-a-box, and they never gave him what he expected. This time, he wanted to do it right and go with a pro and make sure that he got a system that was going to deliver the goods.

I save the Venetian Tower suites for my last day of CES because it’s just too overwhelming otherwise. Practically every suite is filled with some form of audiophile one-upsmanship that after a while just becomes mind numbing. When you hear about $50,000 mono-block amplifiers and $25,000 audio cables and $150,000/pair loudspeakers and precision milled and billeted construction room-after-room, hour-after-hour—with each playing hand selected music to showcase the very best their systems have to offer—you quickly begin to lose touch with reality.

My Thursday at CES started at the Renaissance hotel and a visit to the THX suite. THX was giving a technology presentation of a DSP enhancement/system correction, called Sontia. The Sontia SPT (Stable Phase Technology) technology definitely added deeper bass extension and more focused vocals, and THX is looking to have the technology implemented in entire systems, such as theater-in-a-box and soundbar solutions to offer enhanced audio quality.

I hit the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall first. This used to be home to many of the audio exhibits but now houses lots of computer, phone, tablet and other accessories. One great thing they have started doing is trying to do a better job organizing the show floor into sections. For instance, the South Hall has areas for Connected Home, Digital Health, Electronic Gaming, Lifestyle, Wireless Devices, etc.

My first two press events of CES 2013 were with Sharp and Stream TV Networks. Sharp’s event was pretty typical; they talked about bigger, brighter, better, um, Sharp-er sets with expected higher – UltraHD 4K – resolutions. Sharp’s Chairman and CEO, Toshi Osawa, affirmed the company’s dominance as the number leader in the 60-inch and above LED category.

Sunday at CES is about arriving and getting settled and meeting up with old acquaintances. A large part of our industry is about camaraderie; we share a deep passion for the same things and it makes it easy to develop quick friendships.

We’ve all heard the old adage, “The customer is always right.” That no matter what they want, no matter what they demand, no matter how outrageous, off-mark or bizarre the request, that the customer is still right. But, in the *real* world—especially when it comes to technology requests—we know that sometimes the customer is not right. And some of the things that happen at a client’s home not only aren’t right, they’re just plain *wrong*.